1GoldenSun
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2017
With all the threads wondering whether HS is worth a visit right now with only four rides available, I thought I'd post what my family did in one day from open to close at HS. We live fairly locally and were going to just one park for just one day in December. We chose HS because it's our favorite park for Christmas decorations.
We got there before rope drop and got on RnR very quickly. They were even skipping the pre-show with Aerosmith and the manager and the call for the limo, which has never happened to us before.
After RnR, we had a FP for Star Tours but ToT had a posted wait time of 10 minutes and didn't even take that long so we had a quick ride on that first. When we got to Star Tours the posted wait was 5 minutes so we rode once without using our Fastpasses. By the time we got off the wait was up to 20 minutes so we rode a second time using our FP. Then we had FP for ToT so we rode that for the second time.
Then we grabbed a gingerbread cupcake and a chili slaw dog at Min's Dockside and took it over to Backlot Express. There we picked up some drinks and chicken and waffles and got a table. After lunch we watched Jedi training and then we went to see the Muppet show. Next, we browsed some shops and did a little pin-trading.
Next we headed for the Star Wars area ( I forgot what that's called, Launch Pad, Launch Bay?). We looked around a little and waited about 20 minutes to meet Chewbacca, who is WAY taller than I'd realized.
Then it was time for our Toy Story FP. After riding that, we went back to the Star Wars building and waited around 20 minutes or so to meet Kylo Ren, who was pretty intimidating (in a good way!) and about the same amount of time to meet BB8.
Then we walked through the Walt's Life little museum thingy (I forgot what this is called too) and met Groot. Then we watched the clip for the movie Coco. Definitely not a movie I want to see, haha.
My 9-year-old was getting tired and cranky (late to bed the night before) by now so we got Mickey bars and sat and people watched for a while. Then we checked out some more shops and checked the line to meet Santa, but he was on a break, so we went ahead and got seats for Beauty and the Beast.
After that it was time for our ADR at Mama Melrose. Son had the kids' cheese pizza and spag & meatball cupcake. DH, 13 year old DD and I shared a mushroom flatbread, cioppino, and saltimbucca, and also shared a chocolate cherry torte for dessert. Everything was delicious.
It was getting dark by then, so we walked around the park again to enjoy the Christmas lights, and also did a little more shopping. Unfortunately the line for Santa never got short enough for us to want to get in line, plus he took a LOT of breaks, so we never got to see him. We watched the light show on Tower of Terror (I forgot what that's called, too. This seems to be a common theme with me), but it was AWSOME!! We absolutely LOVED this! We watched this two times through and I could have stood there and watched it again and again but cell phones needed recharging so we went back to Backlot Express and got a drink and sat at a table near an outlet. We rested our feet and wet our whistles and recharged our phones. Then it was time for the Walt Disney show at the Chinese theatre. That isn't exactly what that is called but it's close. It's a montage of film clips and was very enjoyable. Almost immediately following that was Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam, which I was kind of surprised to find that I really enjoyed! The story line of the show made sense to me and was very well done, I thought. We ate Mickey rice crispy treats that I'd picked up earlier while we watched, which made the show just a little bit sweeter.
Of course by the time JBJB was over it was time to go. We were staying at the Swan so we walked back. We had a great time and I don't regret choosing HS as our one park of the Christmas season at all.
In one day at HS, we did the following:
Rode RnR
Rode ToT twice
Rode ST twice
Rode TSMM
Watched the Muppet show
Watched Beauty & the Beast
Met Groot, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and BB8
Ate snacks, lunch, and dinner (one of my favorite things, haha)
Saw the lights and Christmas decorations
Watched the Jedi training
Shopped
Pin-traded
Watched the light show on ToT and enjoyed the "snow"
Saw the Star Wars stuff
Saw Walt's museum
Watched the clip from Coco
Saw the Disney film show
Saw Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam
I thought this was quite a full day and didn't find this to be a half-day park or one to miss at all.
We got there before rope drop and got on RnR very quickly. They were even skipping the pre-show with Aerosmith and the manager and the call for the limo, which has never happened to us before.
After RnR, we had a FP for Star Tours but ToT had a posted wait time of 10 minutes and didn't even take that long so we had a quick ride on that first. When we got to Star Tours the posted wait was 5 minutes so we rode once without using our Fastpasses. By the time we got off the wait was up to 20 minutes so we rode a second time using our FP. Then we had FP for ToT so we rode that for the second time.
Then we grabbed a gingerbread cupcake and a chili slaw dog at Min's Dockside and took it over to Backlot Express. There we picked up some drinks and chicken and waffles and got a table. After lunch we watched Jedi training and then we went to see the Muppet show. Next, we browsed some shops and did a little pin-trading.
Next we headed for the Star Wars area ( I forgot what that's called, Launch Pad, Launch Bay?). We looked around a little and waited about 20 minutes to meet Chewbacca, who is WAY taller than I'd realized.
Then it was time for our Toy Story FP. After riding that, we went back to the Star Wars building and waited around 20 minutes or so to meet Kylo Ren, who was pretty intimidating (in a good way!) and about the same amount of time to meet BB8.
Then we walked through the Walt's Life little museum thingy (I forgot what this is called too) and met Groot. Then we watched the clip for the movie Coco. Definitely not a movie I want to see, haha.
My 9-year-old was getting tired and cranky (late to bed the night before) by now so we got Mickey bars and sat and people watched for a while. Then we checked out some more shops and checked the line to meet Santa, but he was on a break, so we went ahead and got seats for Beauty and the Beast.
After that it was time for our ADR at Mama Melrose. Son had the kids' cheese pizza and spag & meatball cupcake. DH, 13 year old DD and I shared a mushroom flatbread, cioppino, and saltimbucca, and also shared a chocolate cherry torte for dessert. Everything was delicious.
It was getting dark by then, so we walked around the park again to enjoy the Christmas lights, and also did a little more shopping. Unfortunately the line for Santa never got short enough for us to want to get in line, plus he took a LOT of breaks, so we never got to see him. We watched the light show on Tower of Terror (I forgot what that's called, too. This seems to be a common theme with me), but it was AWSOME!! We absolutely LOVED this! We watched this two times through and I could have stood there and watched it again and again but cell phones needed recharging so we went back to Backlot Express and got a drink and sat at a table near an outlet. We rested our feet and wet our whistles and recharged our phones. Then it was time for the Walt Disney show at the Chinese theatre. That isn't exactly what that is called but it's close. It's a montage of film clips and was very enjoyable. Almost immediately following that was Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam, which I was kind of surprised to find that I really enjoyed! The story line of the show made sense to me and was very well done, I thought. We ate Mickey rice crispy treats that I'd picked up earlier while we watched, which made the show just a little bit sweeter.
Of course by the time JBJB was over it was time to go. We were staying at the Swan so we walked back. We had a great time and I don't regret choosing HS as our one park of the Christmas season at all.
In one day at HS, we did the following:
Rode RnR
Rode ToT twice
Rode ST twice
Rode TSMM
Watched the Muppet show
Watched Beauty & the Beast
Met Groot, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and BB8
Ate snacks, lunch, and dinner (one of my favorite things, haha)
Saw the lights and Christmas decorations
Watched the Jedi training
Shopped
Pin-traded
Watched the light show on ToT and enjoyed the "snow"
Saw the Star Wars stuff
Saw Walt's museum
Watched the clip from Coco
Saw the Disney film show
Saw Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam
I thought this was quite a full day and didn't find this to be a half-day park or one to miss at all.
